


Klaine Advent Challenge 2013

by flowerfan



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, klaineadvent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-03 05:22:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 11,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1066252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerfan/pseuds/flowerfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a series of drabbles, based on the prompts for the 2013 Klaine Advent challenge.  They take place the year after Blaine graduates from McKinley and moves to NYC.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Something Sweet (Artist)

It’s New Year’s Day and Kurt is sleepily waking up next to Blaine, snuggled up close in Blaine’s bed. The boys are home in Ohio for Christmas break, dividing their time between Kurt’s and Blaine”s houses. 

Blaine wakes up more quickly, as usual, and squeals with excitement. “Kurt, look, it’s snowing! There’s tons of it! Get up, get up!” 

It’s the first snow they’ve had to play in all year, and they tumble out of bed and run downstairs. Blaine pulls his boots and coat on over his pajamas and convinces Kurt to do the same. In Blaine’s backyard they stare up at the snow, letting it fall right onto their faces. Kurt does a little twirl and then pulls Blaine in for a kiss.  
"Mmm, yum," says Blaine. "Wait, I have an idea." Blaine dashes back inside the house and returns a minute later with a little pitcher and a bowl. 

"What’s that?" Kurt asks, coming up behind Blaine and sticking his cold nose into his neck. "We’re not really dressed for a project."

"Taste." Blaine dips his finger into the container and touches it to Kurt’s lips.  
"Maple syrup?"

"Vermont’s finest. My parents are kind of syrup snobs. But it’s awesome in the snow." Blaine slowly dribbles the syrup out onto the fresh snow, making a design that ends up looking like a tipsy snowflake. "Want to try?"

Kurt takes the pitcher and purses his lips, considering his options. “Do you want hipster/artistic or cheesy/romantic?” he asks Blaine. “Cheesy/romantic, please.”  
Kurt draws “k & b” in the snow with the syrup, then traces a heart around the letters. “What do you think?” 

"It’s a masterpiece, of course," Blaine says. 

Kurt smiles at the expected praise. "We kind of wasted all that syrup, though, didn’t we?" he asks.

"Nope." Blaine scoops up the syrupy snow into a bowl, and offers a clump to Kurt with his fingers. "It’s the best way to eat snow. Super sweet."

"Delicious," says Kurt, serving Blaine a taste. "Just like you."


	2. Belong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day two of the Klaine Advent Challenge: Belong

It was a sweltering hot day in July when Blaine moved into the Bushwick loft. He and Sam drove to the city together, and Sam dropped him off with all of his bags and boxes before heading over to the place he and Artie were sharing. 

Kurt gave Blaine a quick kiss and an apologetic smile as he dashed out of the apartment minutes after Blaine arrived - he had a shift at the diner he couldn’t avoid. Blaine didn’t mind too much, as he figured this would give him a chance to unpack and get organized before Kurt got home; he knew Kurt was tolerant of his messy side, but was hoping to show him what a neat, clean, helpful roommate he would be.

Blaine gathered up a box with his toiletries and headed for the bathroom. Kurt had warned him that they were short on space, so he had tried to bring only the bare minimum, but really, so many of his products were a necessity. Much to his surprise, half a shelf in the bathroom was completely emtpy, and a little post-it indicated it was for “Blaine’s Beauty Products.” Blaine smiled and lined his things up neatly on the shelf.

As he went through the apartment, Blaine found similar notes everywhere. There was a space in Kurt’s closet (our closet, he thought happily) labeled “Blaine’s Polos and Cardigans” and a note on the floor that said “Blaine’s Boat Shoes go here.” Some of the notes revealed how much fun Kurt must have had with this game. On the night table next to the bed a note read “Blaine’s favorite picture of Kurt (just a suggestion)” and on the night table drawer the note simply read “unmentionables.” 

Blaine’s favorite, however, rested on the pillows atop Kurt’s perfectly made bed. There lay a little red post-it with “Kurt and Blaine” written inside a heart drawn in gold glitter. Blaine smiled broadly and did a little dance of joy around the empty apartment. He may have just arrived, but he knew he was where he belonged.


	3. Creepy Crawlies (Consume)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The inhabitants of the Bushwick loft compete in the First Annual Bushwick Weird Foods Contest.

“Kurt, I don’t think I thought this through. I really don’t want to eat these,” Blaine moaned.

Kurt stood behind Blaine where he slumped at their kitchen table, massaging his shoulders. “You have to. We simply cannot let Santana win this. She’ll never let us live it down.”

“Done!” Santana cried triumphantly. “Pass me the next plate. I’m on a roll, there’s only me and you left, chico, and this next round is my favorite.” Santana snickered and pulled over the next plate, which appeared to have little brown lumps on it. 

“Would it be so bad to lose the First Annual Bushwick Weird Foods Contest?” Blaine asked. “It’s not like there’s a real prize. And I’d come in second, even if I stopped now.”

“Just because Rachel wimped out over the chocolate covered bacon, and your sweetie pie refused to eat the seaweed, doesn’t make you some kind of winner,” Santana said, grinning as she popped a chocolate covered grasshopper into her mouth. “Let me see you eat all of these and then we’ll talk.”

“Come on, Blaine, where’s your sense of adventure?” Kurt encouraged him. “Your competitive spirit? Your drive for success?”

“You are not allowed to quote my inspirational sayings of the day calendar at me, it’s not fair,” Blaine moaned.

“You should be glad Sam couldn’t make it, I bet he eats anything,” Kurt mused.

Blaine chuckled. “Are you kidding? Almost everything here is covered in chocolate. No way would Sam agree to eat all those empty calories.”

Kurt took a deep breath and moved around to look Blaine in the eyes, trying hard not to laugh. “You can do this, I know you can, you’re a fighter, um, you’re a champion…”

“You wanna hear me roar?” Blaine giggled. “I think I’d rather dance around naked in a loincloth again than eat grasshoppers. Grasshoppers, Kurt! I had no idea we were going to be eating grasshoppers. I thought weird food meant pineapple pizza and pasta with bananas…”

“Really? Pasta with bananas? I don’t think that’s real,” Kurt said.

“It totally is, you make it with citrus fruit, bananas, and hot sauce, my mom made it once. Anyway, you have to admit this is a whole different ball game. I mean, I was ok with the chocolate covered kale – it’s just a vegetable, they sell it at Whole Foods, how bad could it be? And chocolate covered bacon is totally a thing. But grasshoppers, that’s insane!”

“Ready for the last round?” Dani asked, bringing out two more plates. “Blaine, you’ve still got to eat the grasshoppers, then we’ll move on to the masterpiece.”

“What is it?” Blaine asked hesitantly.

“Finish what you've got, then you’ll find out.” Dani held the plates behind her back.

“Or don’t, and let me win – no problem there,” Santana gloated.

“Fine.” Blaine quickly popped two of the grasshoppers into his mouth, noting how Kurt tried to hide the horrified look on his face. “Kurt, if you hold this against me later, I will end you.” A few moments passed as he chewed. “They’re actually not that bad. Kind of like soft shell crab, but smaller. And without the crab.” He finished off the grasshoppers and smiled broadly at Santana. “All done.”

“Okay, here we go. Now remember, you have to finish everything on this last plate, or you can’t win. Ta-da!” Dani set the plates in front of Blaine and Santana with a flourish.

“Um, what is that?” Blaine asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s chocolate covered squid.” Dani grinned. “I found it online, they shipped it to me, it actually wound up sitting in my mailbox for a day or two because I’m over here so much I forgot to get my mail…”

“I forfeit!” Santana and Blaine yelled at the same time. Blaine pushed back from the table so fast he tumbled to the floor, and Santana started ranting in Spanish. 

Kurt pulled Blaine up and back towards their bedroom. “I don’t care if you didn’t finish the contest, you’re still my hero,” he murmured into Blaine’s ear. 

“If you say so. I’m just glad you aren’t disowning me for not eating that awful squid.”

“It was a near thing. But then I realized that even if you didn’t eat the squid, we still had a whale of a good time!” Kurt chuckled and then began again, “You were not bad, although you ‘cod’ do better!” 

Blaine groaned in response. Quickly he cut off any more fish puns by pressing a kiss firmly to Kurt’s mouth. Kurt tasted a lot better than grasshoppers.


	4. Dirt (Three Ways)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's prompt is "dirt" - this story uses the prompt in three different ways... see if you can spot them.

It was late on a Tuesday night as Blaine headed home from NYADA. It was tech week for the freshman fall musical, and he was exhausted. Not that he wasn’t having a blast playing Conrad in Bye Bye Birdie, but between never ending rehearsals and trying to keep up with his school work he felt like he hadn’t seen Kurt in ages. Or at least, not when they were both awake.

Despite how tired he was, the boppy sounds of the show kept him moving forward. “Did they really get pinned… did she kiss him and cry…” Blaine wasn’t even in the Telephone Song but the darn thing just stuck in his head. He imagined Tina in the place of Kim, gossiping along with their Glee club friends. He really needed to give Tina a call, he thought dejectedly. Maintaining his friendships was important. Just one more thing he hadn’t had time to do right lately. 

Finally making it back to the loft, Blaine tried to be as quiet as he could as he left his coat and shoes at the door, and got ready for bed in the bathroom. He had taken to leaving a pair of sleep pants and a t-shirt in there so he wouldn’t wake Kurt up by changing his clothes in their tiny curtained-off bedroom. He knew Kurt was still adjusting to having another person in his space. As much as they loved each other, living together was definitely taking a bit of getting used to. He was worried that his crazy schedule was bothering Kurt. Even if they both understood the toll a performance schedule could take on one’s personal life, it was still hard to have so little time to spend together. Blaine had hoped Kurt would audition for the freshman musical too, but he told Blaine he didn’t want to be thought of as a freshman (although he still was, Blaine thought – he was just one semester ahead of him). Blaine privately wondered if Kurt was worried about a West Side Story repeat. But that didn’t make sense – Kurt would have been a shoe-in for Albert, and then they both could have had leads, and at least all those hours spent exhausted would have been spent together.

Finally Blaine slid under the covers, tentatively sliding closer to Kurt where he lay curled on his side. Sometimes Kurt seemed pleased to be woken up by him, other times, he was just grumpy. Lately the grumpy times had become more frequent. Again Blaine lamented their lack of quality time together. He knew they did best when they had plenty of time to talk things through, little things and big ones, and the past few weeks just hadn’t given them enough time for their usual chats. 

If Kurt was planning on being friendly tonight, he would have said something by now, Blaine thought sadly. He felt terrible. Kurt was right here next to him, yet he might as well have still been six hundred miles away.

Then Kurt stirred, and reached his arm back to grab Blaine’s and pull him closer. Blaine snuggled up, his chest to Kurt’s back, and twined their fingers together. Blaine could feel Kurt’s heart beating under his hand. He took a deep breath, and exhaled softly. This was better.

Blaine lay quietly, enjoying the way Kurt was stroking his hand with his thumb. He gave Kurt’s hand a squeeze – and then froze. He felt the indent on Kurt’s ring finger where his engagement ring usually was, but the ring wasn’t there. Tears welled up in his eyes before he could even get a breath out to ask Kurt about it. Get a grip, he thought to himself. 

“Blaine?” Kurt asked quietly, turning over to face him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Blaine, you know the rule,” Kurt said lightly. During one of their innumerable talks about how to improve their communication skills, they debated for a while about whether “nothing” was ever an appropriate response to “what’s wrong.” They finally decided that for them, at least, it was almost always not the best way to answer the question.

Blaine looked down at where their hands were still holding each other between them. “Where’s your ring?” he said softly.

Kurt looked blank for a moment, as if the question caught him by surprise. “Oh!” he cried, jumping off the bed. “It’s right here – I set it down to dry after I cleaned it. I got this new solution that’s supposed to be…” Kurt didn’t get to finish his explanation as Blaine launched himself off the bed and into Kurt’s arms, planting a silly, sloppy kiss on his lips. 

“I’m so sorry,” Blaine babbled, pulling back to look into Kurt’s eyes. “I’m so tired, and we haven’t gotten to really talk in so long, and then your ring was gone. I’m such an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot,” Kurt reassured him, sliding the ring back onto his finger. “And even if you were, I’d love you anyway.”


	5. Echo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cooper teases Blaine with a video from their trip to the Grand Canyon.

Blaine’s mom had to go to a medical conference in Sedona for a long weekend right after Blaine’s graduation. She told Blaine she thought it would be fun for him to come along, and even convinced Cooper to meet them there. After a few days of enjoying the spa and the new age hot spots, Blaine and Cooper decided to do a day trip to the Grand Canyon.

Arriving at the South Rim, they wandered around for a while, just gazing around. Blaine understood what people meant when they said the majesty of the place was indescribable. 

Around noon, Cooper jogged over to him with a map and some water bottles. “Come on, squirt, if we don’t start now, we won’t even get halfway down before we have to come back up.” They had decided to hike just a little way down into the canyon and then turn around, since they didn’t have much time. Blaine tucked the two bottles into his backpack next to the two liter bottle of water ( you couldn’t bring too much water on this kind of hike) and they started off. 

Later that night, Blaine was driving them back towards Sedona when Cooper chuckled. “Yup, got it.”

"What do you mean?" Blaine asked. 

"Listen." Cooper pressed play on a video he had recorded earlier. The picture of Blaine in the Grand Canyon was blurry, but you could hear Blaine shouting "I love Kurt Hummel!" with "Hummel, Hummel, Hummel…." echoing afterwards. Then, "we’re getting married, married, married, married."   
Cooper pressed a few more buttons on his phone. “Good thing I still have Kurt’s number. He’s going to love this.” Blaine sighed. He hadn’t realized Cooper was recording him, but at least he hadn’t said anything stupid. 

A few minutes later, Blaine’s phone beeped with a text. Blaine reached for it but Cooper grabbed the phone out of his hand. “No texting while driving, have you not learned anything?”

Blaine sighed. “Fine, you can read it to me.” Blaine figured it had to be Kurt, and he hoped he knew enough to keep it clean while Cooper was nearby.

"Aw, you guys are adorbs."

"Just read it, Coop."

"Fine. Kurt says, and I quote, ‘I love you too, too, too, too, too!’"


	6. Falter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurt couldn't believe that Blaine had never been skiing. He decides to fix this.

Kurt couldn’t believe that Blaine had never been skiing. With the strong LL Bean vibe coming from Blaine's entire family, he had just assumed that Blaine must have learned as a toddler and could swoosh down the slopes like an Olympian. Determined to right this wrong, he planned a trip to a mountain in the Catskills for a bright, sunny day in January. 

The boys sleepily boarded the bus from NYC early in the morning, and dozed the whole way out, Blaine’s head on Kurt’s shoulder as they listened to Blaine’s ipod, one earbud in each of their ears. Kurt was pleased with their outfits – despite not having their own ski clothes, they had managed to borrow some decent supplies from friends at school. He thought Blaine looked particularly cute in a dark red jacket and black pants, although the colors did remind him a bit of the Cheerios. 

When they arrived at the mountain and got through the ski rental line, Kurt steered Blaine to the group lesson area. The package they had signed up for included a two hour beginner lesson for Blaine, an intermediate lesson for Kurt, and lift tickets which would let them spend the rest of the day skiing together. They agreed to meet up after their lessons at a waffle stand near the beginner mountain chair lift.

As their meet-up time came and went, and Kurt finished his second waffle (food doesn’t have calories when you eat it outside, he reminded himself), he started to get worried that Blaine still hadn’t shown up. Finally he heard someone call his name and turned around to see his fiancé wobbling towards him, covered in snow. “Blaine, what happened?” Kurt skied over to him and started brushing snow off of his coat, noting that he also had snow down his neck, coating his scarf, and falling out from under his hat.

“One of the guys in my group thought it would be fun to take this little path through the trees,” Blaine said. “There wasn’t much room, so we had to stay pretty much in a straight line, and I kept sliding around. My skis got tangled.” Blaine’s breath caught, and Kurt could tell he was trying not to cry. “All of a sudden I was on the ground, and there was snow everywhere. I landed right on my shoulder,” he said, pointing to his left side. And it hurts.”

“Oh, babe, I’m so sorry,” Kurt said, taking Blaine in his arms. “Want to go in the lodge and warm up?” Blaine nodded, and they headed inside.

After Kurt got them some hot chocolate and gently rubbed Blaine’s shoulder for a while, they decided to go back out. Blaine had brightened up, and was eager to show off his new skills to Kurt. They stuck to the beginner slopes, but by the end of the afternoon Blaine had made a lot of progress, and they were having a blast chasing each other down the trails. Around four o’clock music started playing from speakers set out near the lodge. Kurt wished they could stay longer and enjoy the party but before they knew it, it was time to board the bus.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Kurt asked later that night, as they curled up together in bed, cold feet poking each other under the blankets.

“I’d give skiing a seven, falling a two, lodge food a five, and the entire day a twelve.” Blaine replied, smiling.

“I’m not great with math, but I don’t see how that adds up,” said Kurt.

“Well, having you to pick me up when I falter is about a twenty, so that balances everything out.”

“That’s pretty much the key to everything we do, isn’t it? Being there for each other,” Kurt mused, snuggling into Blaine’s neck. 

“Yup,” said Blaine, pulling Kurt closer to him and nuzzling into his hair. “And kisses. Kisses are also the key.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”


	7. Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A holiday disagreement causes Kurt and Blaine to lose sight of the big picture.

“I just don’t understand why you don’t like these. They’re perfect,” Kurt said, his voice rising.

“They are beautiful holiday cards, it just isn’t what I had in mind,” Blaine replied. “Remember we talked about doing something handmade, with little notes to our friends? Something like a holiday letter, with news about what we’ve been doing in New York?” Blaine stepped away from the kitchen table and wandered over to the window, looking at the snow falling outside. It seemed much more peaceful out there.

“I don’t know, Blaine, maybe that wouldn’t be the most professional thing to send to my colleagues at work?” Kurt was angry now. This conversation had been going on for far too long, and he wasn’t sure how it got to this place.

Santana looked up from where she and Rachel sat on the couch, drinking coffee. “Everything all right in there boys? Getting a little worked up over Christmas cards, aren’t we?”

“We’re fine, Santana,” Blaine sighed. 

“Really?” Kurt asked, shooting a glare at Blaine. “Because if we don’t make this decision now, we’ll never have time to get these out before Christmas. And we’re not going to be those people who send New Year’s cards because they were too disorganized to send them out before the holiday.”

“Come on, Kurt, you’re not being fair. My parents sent New Year’s cards every year, on purpose. Custom printed, high quality paper stock, and everything. It’s actually a nice way to acknowledge the fact that not everyone you send a card to celebrates Christmas.” Blaine sighed again when Kurt didn’t respond. Kurt rolled his eyes. 

Blaine walked back to where Kurt was standing by the table, and tentatively reached out to touch his arm. “Maybe we should take a break for lunch and talk about this later.”

“Maybe we just shouldn’t send joint Christmas cards at all,” Kurt replied sharply, stepping away from Blaine.

Rachel stood up suddenly and left the room, brushing past Kurt without a word.

“What’s up with her?” Kurt asked.

“What the two of you have, your life together here, now, is a gift,” said Santana, her voice uncharacteristically gentle. “Stop squabbling like children and remember how lucky you are.” Santana paused for a moment, as if to make sure Kurt and Blaine were paying attention, and then followed Rachel into her bedroom.

“She’s right,” Kurt said. 

“She is,” Blaine replied, reaching out for Kurt’s hand. Kurt took it, smiling softly.

“I’m sorry,” they both said at the same time. 

“Want to go for a walk?” Blaine asked. “The snow is really pretty.”

“Yeah, I do. Right after this.” Kurt pulled Blaine into a tight hug, and Blaine snuggled back. They were ridiculously lucky, and if it took Santana to remind them of it once in a while, well, then she was a gift too.


	8. Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blaine admires Kurt... so does someone else.

The two level atrium in NYADA’s main building was Blaine’s favorite place to spend time between classes. Today he was seated on the top level, right up against the railing, trying in vain to get a head start on his improv homework. Most of the time the atrium had just enough background activity to keep him awake, yet not enough to distract him. Today, however, he was distracted. By Kurt. 

Although Kurt usually had a class now, today it was cancelled. Kurt had texted him to let him know that he would be rehearsing a scene with some of the other kids from class, but then wanted to meet up for coffee. Unexpected extra time with Kurt was always a plus, and now it looked like he would also be able to watch Kurt run the scene, as he and a few other students were chatting together on the atrium’s lower level, scripts in hand. 

Blaine groaned a little to himself as he recognized Kurt’s scene partner, a dance major named Jeremy. Jeremy seemed to be everywhere these days. Blaine wondered if Jeremy is losing interest in dance; he certainly seems more interested in spending time with Kurt than hanging out with the other dancers. He recognizes the signs of a crush - Jeremy stands a little too close to Kurt, laughs too quickly at his jokes, blushes deeply when Kurt praises him. 

Blaine gives up even the pretence of doing his homework and lets himself just watch Kurt. Kurt is directing the scene, pointing out where he wants the other students to go, telling them something that makes them laugh. He is so graceful, Blaine reflects, gently indicating his thoughts with a turn of his wrist, a tilt of his head. Blaine thinks that he could be pretty happy just sitting here and watching Kurt for a while, although he is starting to feel a bit stalker-ish.

As Blaine looks on, he sees Kurt touch Jeremy’s shoulders, turning him slightly into the scene. Even from where he is sitting, Blaine can see Jeremy’s face light up. Blaine can’t help the hot flare of jealousy he feels. His stomach clenches. It’s nothing, he knows it’s nothing. He takes a deep breath and shakes his head, trying to make the sick feeling go away.

Just then Blaine’s phone beeps with a text. It’s Sam, asking if he wants to go out with Tina and her new boyfriend to karaoke this weekend. Blaine is suddenly reminded of his conversation with Tina last year before the Sadie Hawkins dance, when she told him that his crush on Sam was “a very human, but moving, dilemma.” Obviously it is only human, after all, for Jeremy to admire Kurt. God knows, Kurt deserves all the admiration in the world. 

Soon Kurt is saying goodbye to his classmates and heading up the stairs towards Blaine. Kurt greets him with a quick kiss and a shy smile, his eyes shining. As they head off to get coffee, hands intertwined, Blaine’s lingering jealously falls away. To crush may be human, he thinks to himself, but their love - corny as it may sound even inside his head - is divine.


	9. Ice (And How to Melt It)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Although they considered going skating at Rockefeller Center, Kurt and Blaine chose instead to spend the sunny winter afternoon walking in Central Park. Blaine recalls their last Christmas.

Although they considered going skating at Rockefeller Center, Kurt and Blaine chose instead to spend the sunny winter afternoon walking in Central Park. Gloved hands intertwined, they let the beauty of the snowy paths soothe them.

“I was worried, last year, you know,” Blaine says.

Kurt knows. Last year was hard on both of them. Since they’d been back together, he had realized that their fears had been similar in some ways, but quite different in others. Talking about it now seems to help. Although he had thought it might just irritate the situation, like worrying a sore tooth, that usually wasn’t the case. Instead it freed them, let the pain out. Made room for better things.

“What do you mean?” Because there were obviously lots of things that Blaine had worried about, but he was clearly thinking about something in particular right now.

“When I came to visit you at Christmas. Your dad seemed so certain that you would be happy to see me, but I wasn’t sure. His motives were a little different than mine, I think.” Blaine stopped walking, and pulled them over to a bench. He turned to look at Kurt. “We were skating, and singing, and making dinner, and it seemed like it was going to be ok. We were going through the motions, and I was trying so, so hard. But you…” Blaine trailed off, looking away.

Kurt put his hands on Blaine’s thighs and squeezed, trying to bring him back. “What about me?”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way.” Blaine takes a deep breath, and looks at Kurt intently. “You can be hard, inside. It’s a strength, I think. But when you’re hurt, you freeze up. And I was worried that for us, because of what I did, the ice would never completely melt.”

Kurt thinks to himself that Blaine is right to a certain extent, but he’s missing the most important point. He struggles to say it in a way that Blaine will really hear, and also not sound like the cheesiest thing ever spoken. “You know it did, right? The ice melted?”

Blaine nods, still clearly uncomfortable. “I’m still not sure how.”

“It was you, silly. With your thousand watt smile, and your patience, and your love.”

“My burning love?” Blaine jokes. “Or my general hotness?”

“Fine, go to the cheesy place.” They both laugh, the tension dissipating. But Kurt doesn’t want to leave the topic completely yet.

“I know I can close off,” Kurt says. “I can be hard to reach, sometimes. But I am really trying not to, with you. I want to let you in. It feels right. And I think I’m getting better at it.”

“You are,” Blaine agrees. “We’re both getting better at this. And honestly, Kurt, nothing makes me happier.” His eyes shine as he gazes at Kurt. 

“Me too.” Kurt thinks of telling Blaine that his eyes are like the sun, but he can’t quite make himself say it. Maybe later. For now, Kurt gives Blaine a gentle kiss. Blaine’s lips are cold against him, and his nose is, well, like ice. Kurt shifts uncomfortably on the bench. Blaine notices.

“Is your ass as cold as mine is?” Blaine asks, pulling Kurt up into a hug and letting his hands stray down into the pockets of Kurt’s jeans. “I’m thinking maybe we should go home and warm up.” 

Kurt holds Blaine tight, and buries his nose into his curls. He can’t believe Blaine didn’t wear a hat. Even Blaine’s hair is cold. “I think we could definitely help each other out.” Kurt grins and takes Blaine’s hand as they head for the subway. “I mean, we’ve already established that we’ve got a burning love.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blaine and Sam brainstorm ideas for a present for Kurt.

"You could inscribe something with ‘my missing puzzle piece,’" Sam suggested.

"I did that already, with his ring," Blaine replied. "You were there, it took forever, we went and got pretzels while we waited, remember?"

"All right, so that idea’s out. How about something in the shape of a puzzle piece, like a fancy pin? I’ve seen one of those somewhere."

"Yes, you have. On Kurt. I got it for him." Blaine sighed. "This is going nowhere."

Sam stopped pacing around the loft’s kitchen long enough to open the refrigerator door, peer inside, and close it again. “Maybe your present doesn’t have to be jigsaw puzzle themed this year?”

"But I always get him something puzzle-y, even if it is just something little for his stocking. It means something to us."  
You guys weren’t even together when you sang that song, though, right? You couldn’t have been singing it for him,” Sam chides.

"You don’t understand, Sam. I may not have known much about Kurt when I met him, but I knew he was special. When I was singing that day in the common room, I sang like I never had before. It was magical, singing to Kurt that day. And the metaphor of my missing puzzle piece, well, it couldn’t be more perfect. We fit together. We complete each other."

"And the romance wasn’t ruined by the failed serenade at Callbacks?" Sam asked.

"Wow, harsh!" Blaine exclaimed. "No, it wasn’t, thank you very much. Meanie." Blaine gave Sam a playful shove, the only effect of which was to make Sam laugh. 

"Ok, fine, I admit you guys are the most perfect couple to perfectly astound the world with how perfectly you fit together. I’ll help you find another perfect puzzle present, if we have to scour Amazon all night. But you’re going to owe me big time."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Like making me cupcakes big time. Or even a whole cake," Sam said excitedly.

Blaine’s face lit up. “Sam, that’s it! You’re a genius!” Blaine shouted, pulling the laptop away from his friend.

"What did I do?"

"A whole cake?? Or maybe pieces of cake? You know, jigsaw puzzle shaped pieces that would fit together? Or we could make a bunch of cupcakes and shape them like puzzle pieces, and put them together and decorate them like a picture, and then mix them up, and Kurt will have to put the puzzle together before he gets to eat the pieces! Look, there’s instructions for like three different ways to do it!" Blaine turned the computer back to Sam to show him what he found. 

"Those are awesome! We can totally make these," Sam said.

"See, I knew you could help me. Because you know, Sam," Blaine smiled broadly at his friend, "we fit together pretty well too."


	11. Key

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little visit to the Whedon-verse goes a long way

The boys had gone to bed relatively early after an exhausting day, but from the sounds Blaine was making, he wasn’t sleeping very well.

“No, wait,” Blaine mumbled. “You can’t.” He turned over, his arm flinging over Kurt and landing solidly on his head.

If had been any chance of Kurt sleeping through this, it was gone. He moved to shake Blaine out of his dream, but before he could, Blaine exclaimed “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it!” and sat straight up, eyes wide and frightened.

Kurt smothered a laugh and sat up too, taking Blaine in his arms. “What happened, baby? Have a nightmare?”

“Kurt?” Blaine asked, not fully awake. “Kurt, you’re okay?”

“Of course I’m okay. I’m right here. We’re in our nice, cozy bed, and you had a bad dream.” Kurt held Blaine tight, rubbing one hand up and down his back.

Blaine relaxed into his hold and wrapped his arms around Kurt, resting his head on his shoulder and breathing into his neck. After a minute he pulled away from Kurt enough to look him in the eyes. “Kurt, it was terrible.”

“What happened?”

“You were the key, and you were going to die, so I jumped into the other dimension, and I was falling and falling and falling…” 

“Blaine,” Kurt began, “didn’t I tell you not to marathon Buffy anymore?” Kurt looked over at the clock. It was just after midnight – this would teach them to go to sleep too early. “Come on, let’s get you some warm milk.”

They headed out into the kitchen, not surprised to see Santana on the couch, idly paging through a magazine. 

“Did Blaine have a Buffy nightmare again, or was something more interesting going on in there?” Santana asked, grinning.

“This is your fault, Santana. It’s the third time this week. Your need to give your Whedon-verse obsession a rest.” Kurt opened the fridge and got out the milk. “Want some?” he asked.

“Um, no. Warm milk is gross,” she replied. “And I really don’t understand how Buffy could give you nightmares. The vampires aren’t even frightening.”

“It’s not the vampires that scare me,” Blaine explained. “It’s all the other stuff. Losing your true love forever, people relying upon you to save the world, how can that not scare you?”

“You know that’s not really something you have to worry about, right?” Kurt asked, placing a mug in front of him.

“I know. But dreams don’t have to be realistic to be scary.” Blaine stretched his arms up over the head, and then back behind him. “I’m sorry I keep waking you up.”

“If you think waking up next to you is a problem, you are dead wrong,” said Kurt.

Blaine shivered. “Please, don’t say dead.”

“You know Buffy doesn’t stay dead, right?” As Kurt began to speak, Blaine slapped his hands over his ears and protested loudly.

“Don’t tell me what happens! We just finished season five!”

“Oh my god, you guys are ridiculous. Come over here. There’s an easy solution to this problem,” Santana said, picking up the remote and sliding over to make room for them. “Season six is awesome.”

“No, are you serious?” Kurt asked, but Blaine was already hopping up on the couch, patting the spot next to him and smiling broadly. Kurt sat down and snuggled in next to Blaine, pulling a fleecy blanket over them both.

Kurt didn’t really see how watching more television would cure Blaine’s television induced nightmares, but being able to cuddle up with Blaine whenever he wanted to? That was a dream come true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment! I promise to go read anything you've written if you do. Or follow you on Tumblr. Or write a response to a prompt... (Ok I'll stop now).


	12. Loft

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected event during class calls for a loft SOS.

Kurt and Blaine decided to fulfill one of their NYADA course requirements by taking a stage tech course together. It turned out to be more interesting than they had expected. Although Kurt was disappointed that he couldn’t work on costumes, he liked the lighting rotation, especially when he got to work the flood light from up on the catwalk. Blaine was assigned to the fly crew for the first part of the semester, and was fascinated by the network of lines and blocks that moved the drops up and down from the loft.

During the second half of the semester, Blaine worked on props, and Kurt painted scenery. They spent some time one weekend learning about set construction, both trying to convince the other that they weren’t afraid of the power tools.

The low key nature of the class was a welcome break from their performance requirements, and the tech director didn’t worry so much about driving her students to beat out the competition. She was actually concerned about safety, and spent the first few minutes of each class period reviewing rules and proper procedure for the day’s lesson. This was why everyone was so surprised when it happened – halfway through a class, a line came loose from a block, and a heavy drop slammed down onto the stage from the fly loft. There was a moment of silence, then a cacophony of voices yelling out.

When the drop fell, Blaine was in the wings, trying to tighten the leg on a wobbly chair. But the last time he saw Kurt he had been on stage, putting some finishing touches on a forest scene, right in the path of the fallen backdrop. Blaine was moving forward before he could even process what had happened. “Kurt, Kurt, where are you?”

“I’m right here, it’s okay,” Kurt grabbed Blaine’s arm and spun him around, gathering him up in a tight hug. “I wasn’t onstage, I went to find some more paint…”

“Kurt, you were right there,” Blaine said shakily. “Right where it fell. You could have been under it.” Blaine squeezed Kurt tighter, took a deep breath, and then pulled back, sliding his hands down to clasp Kurt’s. “I think I stopped breathing there for a minute.”

Kurt nodded. “Me too.” He looked around the stage, empty now of people. “We need to go sit down.” He motioned towards the director, who was having the students gather towards the back of the theater, well away from the stage. Luckily no one had been hurt. The director dismissed most of the students after a few minutes, keeping back only the people who had been working on the fly system so they could try to figure out what went wrong.

“I think this calls for a movie marathon,” Blaine said as they left school and headed for the subway. Neither of them had any interest in going to class for the rest of the day. 

“Couldn’t agree more,” said Kurt, typing into his phone. “And a loft SOS.”

Within a few hours the usual suspects had gathered at the Bushwick loft, snuggling on the couch with Blaine and Kurt, and providing a much needed distraction from the events of that afternoon. Rachel brought ice cream, Santana and Dani brought wine, and Sam brought cheesecake, proving his superhero status once again. Blaine and Kurt relaxed, happy and safe in the company of their friends.

Elliott stopped by, having heard from Rachel that the group was getting together for a movie night. He hadn’t heard about the reason for the gathering, however, and since everyone was pretty cheery by the time he arrived, it didn’t come up. When the debate on which movie to watch first began to get heated, Elliott interrupted. “Maybe this will help,” he said, pulling a DVD out of his backpack and setting it down on the coffee table with the other possible options that were under discussion. “It’s not my personal favorite,” he explained, “but I’m betting it’s a hit with the NYADA crowd.”

Looking at Elliott’s contribution, Blaine groaned in disbelief. “Phantom of the Opera? With the chandelier? No way!”


	13. Message

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A song reminds Kurt and Blaine of how lucky they are.

Kurt and Blaine were waiting in line at a cute coffee place that had just opened up near NYADA. Blaine tapped Kurt’s arm to get his attention and pointed up, tilting his head to listen. “Do you hear that? That song?”

_I ain’t missing you at all_  
Since you’ve been gone away  
I ain’t missing you at all  
No matter what my friends say 

“God, Kurt, I had that song on repeat for a while last year. It was killing me.” Blaine wrapped his arm around Kurt’s waist and pulled him in close. 

“You don’t even want to know what my playlist sounded like. Santana finally deleted it after Mr. Schue’s wedding that wasn’t.” Kurt laughed. “She said it was giving her brain damage.” 

_And there’s a message that I’m sending out_  
Like a telegraph to your door  
And if I can’t bridge this distance  
Stop this heartbreak overload 

Blaine took their coffees and they found a table near the back. “I was always thinking about you, imagining what you were doing, what was going through your head. I used to wonder if you were listening to the same songs I was, that maybe if I thought about them hard enough, often enough, they’d pop up in your head too,” he mused. 

“It wouldn’t be the only time we’ve thought the same thing,” Kurt replied. “Like right now, I know exactly what you’re thinking,” he teased.

“That hardly proves anything, Kurt, I just told you what I was thinking,” Blaine said, smiling.

“No, there’s more. And I’m thinking the exact same thing.”

“What?” Blaine asked.

“That I’m so very glad I don’t have to miss you anymore,” Kurt said softly.

“You’re right, and I am, too. Very, very glad.” Blaine pressed a quick kiss to Kurt’s lips. “Because missing you is definitely something I can live without.” Blaine took a last sip from his cup. “How about we head home and work on a new playlist? “

“Sounds good to me. We can start with some Beatles…” Kurt suggested, standing up from the table and taking Blaine’s hand.

“I was thinking the exact same thing!”


	14. Neon

Santana heard the music before she even made it to the top of the stairs. Ever since Blaine had moved in a few weeks ago, he and Kurt were always singing together. She had no idea why the other residents of their building didn’t complain more. Maybe they were all deaf. Or maybe they really liked Kurt’s cookies as much as he said they did. Who knows.

As she opened the door to the loft, Santana was confronted with a twirling, singing Blaine.

"They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway."

"On Broadway," Kurt echoed him.

"They say there’s always magic in the air," Blaine belted out. "Oh, hi Santana!"

"Blaine has his first Broadway audition today," Kurt explained. "Well, off-Broadway. So we’re warming up." 

"Boring way to warm up. I’d think that now that you’re both in the same city you’d have a lot more interesting exercises to perform," Santana commented drily.

"Did that already," Blaine said, grinning. "That worked for characterization, and stretching." He twisted his arms back and forth behind him. "Definitely worked for stretching."

"From what I’ve heard, I’m sure it warmed up your voice, too. The two of you aren’t exactly quiet. Although I guess your audition might call for more of a range than just ‘right there, Kurt, right there.’"

Kurt shook his head. “Careful what you suggest, Santana. Blaine’s tried singing to me during sex, and I don’t think you really want to hear it.”

"What, you didn’t appreciate my rendition of 'I’ll Make A Man Out of You?'" Blaine asked playfully. "It wasn’t that bad. And I still think singing while fucking would be a good breath control exercise."

"I don’t understand it, Blaine. When I left you in Lima you were a sweet little uptight baby gay. Now I can’t even make you blush." Santana looked at Blaine quizzically.

Kurt came up behind Blaine and put his arms around him, nuzzling his neck. “Maybe I’ve got better things to blush about now, Santana,” Blaine said, twisting around to look fondly at Kurt. 

"Mmm, so true," Kurt murmured. Blaine responded by scattering kisses down from Kurt’s ear to his collarbone. 

Interesting, Santana thought. She might not understand how this new, less self-conscious Blaine came to be, but she really kind of liked him.


	15. Overture

Blaine felt like he had been walking on eggshells for days. Santana had been making herself scarce at Dani’s, and he was left to watch Kurt and Rachel skate around each other, barely speaking. He wasn’t even sure what had started it, something about an audition, but things had gone quickly downhill from there. 

When he woke up that morning, Kurt was already out of bed. Blaine wrapped a blanket around himself and went out into the living room. Kurt was curled up in the window seat, dejectedly watching the rain fall.

Blaine squeezed in next to him and wrapped the blanket around them both, letting Kurt poke his cold toes against his legs. He put his arms around Kurt, and rubbed his thumb against his collarbone. “I know you said you didn’t want to talk about it…” Blaine began softly.

“I don’t,” Kurt replied. “But I don’t think I can take this anymore. I just feel sick.”

“I know.” Blaine stroked Kurt’s back as Kurt nuzzled into his neck. “This isn’t good for either of you. Yesterday I caught Rachel drinking diet coke from a can.”

“No way, Blaine, she doesn’t drink soda. Only tea,” Kurt insisted.

“Yes way, Kurt. Soda. This clearly can’t go on.”

Kurt laughed softly. “Fine. But I don’t know how to fix it. We both said such terrible things. I even used Finn as leverage. It’s unforgiveable.”

“Unforgiveable?” Blaine pulled back a little, looking Kurt in the eye. Kurt blinked up at him, a wave of pain flashing across his face. “You love her, don’t you?” Blaine asked.

“Of course I do. But that doesn’t make this any easier,” Kurt complained.

“No, but it makes it worth the effort.” Blaine lay his head back down against Kurt, relaxing into his touch. He heard Kurt’s stomach growl. 

“Sorry. I haven’t been eating much lately.”

“Neither has Rachel, from what I’ve seen.” Blaine paused. “Wait, I’ve got an idea.”

Later that morning, when Rachel returned from her yoga class and tried to slip directly into the bathroom, she was waylaid by Blaine, who steered her in the direction of the kitchen. On the table was an enticing spread of crepes, strawberries, Rachel’s favorite vegan spinach quiche (which Kurt had luckily made several weeks ago and had forgotten about in the back of the freezer) and a steaming cup of chamomile tea. Kurt stood nervously at the stove, flipping more crepes and looking over his shoulder at Rachel. 

Rachel looked at the scene, her face impassive. Then she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. When she opened them, a cautious smile lit her face. “This looks amazing, guys. And I’m starving.”


	16. Pulse

“You don’t understand how important this is. The Manson Trio is one of Fosse’s signature dance numbers from the original production of Pippin. It has to be perfect.” Rachel stepped out of formation and glared at Kurt and Blaine. “I’m taking five. Be ready to go again when I get back.” Tossing her hat to the floor, Rachel stomped out of the dance studio. The three students were preparing for NYADA’s Tribute to Bob Fosse, and Rachel was apparently losing patience with her dance partners.

“Who does she think she is, the next Patina Miller?” Blaine grumbled, collapsing on the floor.

“More like the next Miss July.” Kurt grabbed two water bottles from his bag and sat down next to where Blaine was lying, settling Blaine’s head onto his lap. He combed his fingers through Blaine’s damp hair. “At least you were smart enough not to bother with the gel today.”

“Mmm, keep doing that.” Blaine closed his eyes and snuggled into Kurt. “Maybe I’ll just take a quick nap.” 

“Not likely, your pulse is racing,” Kurt observed, his fingers lingering on Blaine’s neck. “You need to do more cardio.”

“I know, I never have time to run anymore. Sam always wants to lift.”

“And you just hate helping him with that,” Kurt joked.

“Come on, Sam’s my friend. Yours too. And you can’t deny that if you didn’t have that early morning playwriting class, you’d be right there next to him at the gym too.”

“Fair enough.” Kurt ran a hand over Blaine’s exposed shoulders and arms, trailing circles around Blaine’s biceps appreciatively. “I guess I can’t argue with Sam’s priorities.”

Blaine chucked. “Thanks.”

“And I do like you in this outfit.”

“Rachel said all black. It’s a tank top and yoga pants, it’s what I had in black. Not exactly the height of fashion.” Blaine sighed. “Why aren’t you even sweaty? This is a lot harder than I expected it to be.”

“Fosse’s dancing is all about precision and control. Cocked hips, sharp movements, jazz hands, finger snaps. I think you’re working harder than you need to,” Kurt said.

“I think you’re just insanely good at this. I’m glad I don’t have Miss July, but she definitely trained you well. Watching you do those hip rolls....” Blaine leaned up and kissed Kurt hungrily. “I can think of better ways to use your hips,” he whispered. 

“See, this is exactly the problem,” Rachel declared as Kurt and Blaine scrambled to stand up. For obvious reasons, they hadn’t noticed her come back into the room. “Too much fiancé, not enough Fosse.”


	17. Quick

Kurt’s phone beeped with a text as he came up out of the subway station.

From: Sam  
Can you come home quick?

From Kurt:  
Sure, I’m almost there. What’s up?

From Sam:  
Blaine’s hurt.

Kurt’s heart dropped into his stomach and he started running. Quick didn’t even begin to describe how fast he was moving, his messenger bag slamming against his side with every stride. He wouldn’t let himself think about what might have happened, he just concentrated on making his way down the street, dodging pedestrians and scampering across intersections after frantic glances both ways. Blaine had to be okay. He had to be. 

Kurt covered the three blocks in record time and flew up the stairs, skidding to a stop in front of the entrance to the loft. He slid the door open with a bang, and threw himself inside. Three heads swiveled to look at him, like owls perched on a branch. Sam and Rachel sat on the couch on either side of Blaine, who had one foot propped up on the coffee table.

“Blaine…” Kurt was breathing too hard to get much out. But Blaine was right there, smiling his crazy glad to see you grin at Kurt and looking a little bit embarrassed.

“Dude, you will never believe the size of the splinter in this guy’s foot!” Sam exclaimed. “It’s crazy! It’s going to need a needle and everything.”

“Of course we were going to try to get it out, but we thought it would be best if you looked at it first,” Rachel explained.

“Splinter?” Kurt interrupted. “You…” Kurt glared at Sam. “You said Blaine was hurt!” Kurt couldn’t focus, looking back and forth between Sam and Rachel, still trying to catch his breath, his arms tingling. He felt like he was going to float away, or maybe just fall down.

“Guys, could you give us a minute?” Blaine requested. Sam looked sheepish, but Rachel just shrugged. When the two had gone into Rachel’s room and closed the curtain, Blaine motioned to Kurt, who was still standing stiffly by the door. “Come here, sit with me,” Blaine said softly.

Kurt sat down on the couch next to Blaine and collapsed into him, letting Blaine wrap his arms tightly around his shoulders. “Baby, you’re shaking,” Blaine whispered, holding him close. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you were frightened. Sam didn’t mean to scare you.” 

Kurt curled up on Blaine’s chest, listening to his heart beat reassuringly inside his healthy, unbroken chest. Kurt tried to match his breathing to Blaine’s. “It’s really just a splinter?” 

“It’s really just a splinter.” Blaine rubbed circles on Kurt’s back. 

Kurt concentrated on the feeling of Blaine’s warm hands gently stroking him, grounding him. He took a deep breath and tried to make himself relax. “I’m being silly, I know. But when Sam said you were hurt, I thought…” Kurt closed his eyes and took another deep breath. He had pictured blood, and an ambulance, and a hospital. And worse.

“You’re not being silly. I’d go crazy if I thought you were hurt.” Blaine kissed Kurt softly on his forehead. “But I’m not hurt, I promise. You’ll get the splinter out, we’ll coat it in Neosporin, my foot will be fine.” 

Kurt snuggled as close to Blaine as he could get, feeling his heartbeat come back to something resembling normal. “I love you so much.” 

“I love you too. You’re okay now. Everyone’s okay,” Blaine soothed.

Kurt finally sat up, rubbing his hands on his thighs. “I’m not so sure about that.” 

“No?” Blaine furrowed his brow at Kurt.

“No. Because unless Sam comes up with some way to make this up to me, I’m going to kill him.”


	18. River

Late on a winter school night, Kurt dozed off in bed, his playwriting homework abandoned on the pillow next to him. He woke up soon after, hearing music.

Wrapping a blanket around himself, Kurt emerged from the bedroom. Blaine was seated at the piano, wearing a gray hoodie of Kurt’s and his flannel sleep pants, hair still curly and damp from his shower. He was alternating between playing a soft, lilting melody and scribbling notes on staff paper. Kurt stood still for a moment, admiring the view. Blaine put so much of himself into his playing, and Kurt loved to watch him.

“Is that for class?” Kurt asked. He settled himself on the bench next to Blaine and wrapped the blanket around them both, twining a foot around Blaine’s ankle.

“No, I’m just messing around.” Blaine played the tinkling melody again, gently knocking his elbow against Kurt’s. “I’m sorry if I woke you. This just got stuck in my head and I wanted to try it out.”

“Nah, it’s too early for me to go to sleep, anyway.” Kurt paused, looking around. “The girls still at work?”

“Yup.” Blaine continued playing, swaying smoothly with the rhythm.

“It’s pretty. It sounds like a river.”

“A river? I like that.” Blaine played the phrase again, adding some deeper tones, and speeding up the tempo. Then the tune became one Kurt recognized, and Blaine began to sing. “Like a river flows, surely to the sea…”

Kurt joined in, “Darling, so it goes, some things were meant to be…”

Blaine trailed off, returning to his original theme.

“What were you thinking?” Kurt asked. They have had this conversation before. Blaine has explained that sometimes he has a feeling that triggers a melody; it’s how he comes up with new pieces to experiment with. Kurt finds it fascinating.

“It’s how I feel when I hear you laugh,” Blaine says softly. “You have the most magical laugh.”

Kurt snuggled up closer to Blaine and rested his head on Blaine’s shoulder. “Mr. Anderson, the things you say.”

After a few minutes, Kurt nosed along Blaine’s neck, planting a soft kiss on his collarbone. “Play me the one you wrote last week.”

“This one?” It was a sultry, languid, tune. Blaine’s expression changed as he played the new piece, quietly happy.

“Tell me again what this one is?”

“You just want me to say it again.” 

“So what if I do?” Kurt snaked an arm around Blaine, tucking his fingertips into the waistband of his pants.

Blaine kept playing, letting his body move with the notes. “This is how I feel when we’re making love.” Blaine spoke softly into Kurt’s ear, his voice low. “When we have the time to really savor it. Enjoy each other as much as we want.” 

“Tell me more,” Kurt began. “Or, better yet, show me?” Kurt’s fingers were tracing soft circles on Blaine’s hip.

“Mmm, good idea.” Blaine stood up and took Kurt’s hand. “Why don’t we relocate this concert to the bedroom? I think it’s time for the finale.”


	19. Stitch

There was a week in October Blaine had been dreading, and when it arrived, he threw himself into school work, chores, and anything else he could find to take his mind off what was worrying him. By the end of the week he had exhausted his dramatic scene partner with his constant requests for more rehearsals, he had memorized every monologue for the semester, and the loft was sparkling clean. He even made new curtains for the kitchen. Blaine knew it really wasn’t working, but he hoped at least that it would distract Kurt. It didn’t.

It was just about a year to the day from when Blaine had come to New York to tell Kurt about Eli, when he broke the heart of the person he loved most in the world. Blaine knew Kurt had forgiven him, and he continued to work on forgiving himself, but thinking about it still made him feel ill. Now, coming home after another long day at school, Blaine felt like he was right back there again, about to surprise Kurt with a bouquet of flowers and fatal news, his stomach twisted in sick shame and desperate love.

Blaine had a plan for tonight. Kurt and Rachel were working late shifts at the diner, and Santana was away for a few days. No one would be there to witness him drown his sorrows in several pints of Ben & Jerry’s and self-indulgent bluesy piano playing.

But when Blaine slid the loft door open, there was Kurt, bright eyed and smiling, looking gorgeous as ever in tight jeans and a green v-neck sweater. “You’re here,” Blaine said pointlessly.

“I am.” Kurt came up to Blaine and took his bag, then drew him into a loose hug. “Dani took my shift.”

“How come?”

Kurt tilted his head at Blaine, as if the answer was obvious. Which it was. “I thought it would be good for us to have some time together,” Kurt said, taking Blaine’s hand and leading him over to the couch.

Blaine sat down next to Kurt and he felt his eyes fill with tears. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. 

Kurt slid closer to Blaine on the couch and rubbed a comforting hand on his thigh. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. Except maybe for trying to disguise your worries in a new found love for housekeeping.”

Blaine sighed. “I don’t like remembering how I broke us. It hurts. I didn’t want you to hurt too.” Blaine said, leaning into Kurt, breathing him in.

“But if you hurt, I hurt.” Kurt stroked Blaine’s hair, and planted a little kiss on his head. “I don’t like remembering either, but it’s not going to kill us. We’re good now, right?”

Blaine nodded, and snuggled closer to Kurt.

After few minutes, Kurt pulled away. “I have something for you.” He reached under the couch and pulled out a box wrapped in delicate floral patterned paper.

“You got me a present?”

“Just open it.”

Blaine carefully unwrapped the box and lifted the lid. Inside was a graceful bowl, dark blue with gold strands laced through it. “It’s lovely.” He looked up at Kurt quizzically. “What’s the occasion?”

“It seemed appropriate. It’s Kintsukuroi, a Japanese art where broken pottery is repaired with gold lacquer resin, rendering the piece more beautiful for having been broken.”

“Kurt, thank you.” Blaine’s heart felt light, like it was going to fly up out of his chest. “You are amazing.”

Kurt shrugged, and smiled shyly, tracing the gold lines on the bowl. “When something valuable is broken, you don’t just throw it away. I think I knew that’s what was going on with us, even though it took me a while to understand it. We’ve spent the past year stitching up the places where we came apart. We know ourselves better now, and we know each other better.” Kurt paused, taking the bowl out of Blaine’s hands and placing it on the coffee table, then coming in close to Blaine and taking his hands again. “We’re stronger for it now. Just like this bowl. I’m sure we are.”

Blaine took a deep breath, and smiled broadly at Kurt. This boy never ceased to astonish him. “I’m sure too.” He leaned in and kissed Kurt, lingering there after the kiss, his forehead against Kurt’s. “How about some celebratory ice cream?”

When Blaine came back to the couch a few minutes later with two spoons and the Ben & Jerry’s in the Kintsukuroi bowl he could see Kurt flinch. “Come on, Kurt, it’s strong, remember? Have confidence in our beautiful bowl.” 

Kurt and Blaine used the bowl time and again over the years, passed back and forth between them after disagreements and on special occasions with offerings as varied as cupcakes and chicken soup (and after one memorable fight, martinis), until one day, it broke. They resolved to get it repaired, but they weren’t worried. As strong as the bowl was, Kurt and Blaine knew in their hearts that what they had together was stronger still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out pictures of bowls repaired with the Japanese art of Kintsukuroi - they are really beautiful! (Please just put Kintsukuroi into Google - my attempts at inserting a link are failing).


	20. Torch

Kurt thinks it’s pretty cute. And he mentally pats himself on the back for thinking it’s cute, and not being upset over it, like he might have been a year ago. 

The girl’s name is Wendy, and she’s blond, blue-eyed, and beautiful. She has a lovely voice and a great way with comic timing. Her favorite scene partner is one Blaine Anderson. Kurt knows all this because she has insisted on coming over to the loft three times this week to practice a scene with Blaine for class. It’s always right at that busy and awkward time between school and dinner, when the loftmates are all stopping in to grab a bite to eat or a change of clothes before rushing off to work a shift at the diner, or get to a rehearsal. 

One afternoon after Wendy departs Kurt comes up behind Blaine and gives him a hug, hooking his chin over his fiance’s shoulder. “Nice work today. I think the scene is ready for prime time.”

“Thanks.” Blaine turns in Kurt’s arms and gives him a soft kiss. “Sorry we keep invading the loft. But I think Wendy has an ulterior motive.”

“Oh yeah?” 

“Yup,” Blaine replies. “She might be carrying a torch for someone we know.”

“I’m surprised you noticed. You’re usually so oblivious,” Kurt jokes.

“Guess it was obvious this time.” Blaine rests his head on Kurt’s shoulder. “It’s too bad Wendy can’t get what she wants. She’s really pretty cool.”

Kurt pulls away from Blaine, puzzled. “I’m sorry, are you wishing you were straight and unattached so you could hook up with Wendy?”

Blaine freezes for a moment, confused, then bursts out in giddy laughter. “Kurt, she’s not interested in me. She’s crushing on Rachel!”


	21. Us

Blaine sprawled on the floor in front of the Christmas tree, flinging his hands out to his sides. “I think that’s the last one, ” he sighed. “I never thought wrapping presents could be so exhausting.”

"Then clearly, you haven’t been doing it right," Kurt joked. He looked around the room and counted off the festively wrapped packages. "Rachel, Santana, Dani, Sam, Elliott, Tina, your parents, my parents… Isn’t there supposed to be one for Cooper and his girlfriend?"

"I ordered it from Amazon and had it sent directly to them," Blaine explained. 

"Cretin," scoffed Kurt. "How do you know it will be wrapped properly?" 

Blaine ignored the question, figuring it was rhetorical. “We can clean everything up later. First come lie here with me for a while.” Blaine motioned to Kurt, who was still rifling through the various bags and boxes spread out all around them. “The lights look so pretty from this angle,” he encouraged, sliding over so his head was almost under the tree, and wiggling his fingers as he reached for Kurt’s hand.

"Ah ha!" Kurt exclaimed, finding a bag that hadn’t yet been emptied of its contents. "I knew there was one more to wrap." He held up a bottle of red wine and examined the label. "Did you buy this, Blaine? This is a really good bottle of wine. Who’s it for?"

Blaine sat up and scooted over next to Kurt, placing his hand gently on Kurt’s cheek and pulling him in for a kiss. “That, my beautiful fiancé, is for us.”


	22. Vodka

Living in such close quarters, you learned a lot about your roommates, Blaine discovered. It was endlessly amusing to him how their preconceptions about each other proved in so many cases to be dead wrong.

For example, when the pipe under the sink burst, creating a small flood in the kitchen, Rachel was the one who actually knew how to fix it. Despite Kurt’s occasional impatience with wait staff, he always left generous tips, even when he didn’t have much money in the bank. Santana turned out to be a neat freak, and had a particular penchant for organizing the kitchen drawers. Sam surprised everyone in the loft with his knowledge of classical guitar, resulting in quite a few evenings of duets with Blaine on the piano. And somewhat to Blaine’s embarrassment, Santana finally stopped teasing him and Kurt about being too timid to have sex – she could hardly deny it, not living in a place where the bedrooms didn’t really have walls.

One of the assumptions that Kurt and Blaine still hadn’t been able to shake, however, was the idea that they didn’t like to drink, or, alternatively, that Kurt didn’t want Blaine to drink. Santana even went so far as to grab a beer out of Blaine’s hand one night, muttering some comment about “keeping the peace.” Up until that point, Blaine hadn’t minded, figuring it was better to pick your battles. But this time, he had had enough.

The following Friday, when the loftmates and their friends gathered for game night, Blaine and Kurt volunteered to provide the snacks. They put out bowls of olives and mixed nuts, and poured everyone vodka tonics with fresh lime. Santana raised her eyebrows questioningly, but after a sharp look from Kurt, limited herself to a snarky comment about the fact that Pictionary was outdated and boring. As the night progressed, and Kurt and Blaine spent more and more time curled around each other, trading lazy kisses and whispering sweet nothings, their hands wandering to places they would otherwise never go except in the privacy of their room, even Santana had to admit that she had been wrong. Kurt clearly didn’t mind a tipsy Blaine – in fact, he seemed to like him quite well.


	23. Whisper

When Kurt gets back to the loft late one afternoon, Blane is buzzing with excitement. "Kurt, you have to try this," he says, pulling on Kurt's arm before he even has a chance to get his shoes off. "It's the coolest thing."

"What's going on?" Kurt is moderately tired and was planning on changing his clothes and then zoning out for a little while before band rehearsal, but Blaine's enthusiasm is perking him up. Kurt wonders if the thing Blaine wants to try has to do with sex. He wasn't in the mood before, but he could be convinced to change his mind. And no one else seems to be home.

"You'll see. Stand here, and listen." Blaine positions Kurt at the far end of the loft, in the kitchen, and dashes off to Santana's corner at the other end. "Can you hear me?" Blaine yells.

"Of course, I can hear you. You're shouting." Kurt looks curiously at Blaine, who mumbles something at him and then closes Santana's curtain so Kurt can't see him. Kurt idly peels a banana and stands where Blaine placed him for another minute, then yells back, "Blaine? Am I supposed to stay here?"

Blaine sticks his head out from behind the curtain. "You didn't hear me?"

"You mean, other than the shouting?"

Blaine comes back over to Kurt, repositions him, and goes back behind Santana's curtain again.

"I'm getting sort of a Wizard of Oz vibe, but nothing else." Kurt walks back to Santana's section and sticks his head in. "Can I please talk to the man behind the curtain?" 

Blaine comes out and lays his head on Kurt's shoulder. "I don't understand why it isn't working now," he says sadly. "It was so neat."

"Why what isn't working?"

"Earlier today when just Santana and I were home, I was in the kitchen and she was back in here. And all of a sudden I could hear what she was saying, as if she was right next to me. You know, like the whispering gallery in the U.S. Capitol," Blaine explained.

"Isn't that an urban myth?" Kurt asked.

"No, I don't think so, but even if it is, it's a real acoustic effect." Blaine sighed. "Although I did think you needed a circular space..."

Kurt put his arms around Blaine. "I hate to disappoint you, sweetie, but I don't think we have a whispering gallery in the loft. I'm sure there's an explanation for how you heard Santana this morning." Just then Kurt spotted part of the headphone set they borrowed to use for their next gig, hanging precariously from Santana's coat rack. He took it down carefully and showed it to Blaine. "Maybe the other headphone is in the kitchen?"

They find the other headset next to the sink, and the mystery of the whispering gallery is solved. Much later that night, Kurt and Blaine play a whispering game of their own. It turns out that, when Blaine tells Kurt what he had been whispering to him, Kurt's first instinct was correct - it did have to do with sex after all.


	24. Yes

It's easy for Blaine to say yes to Kurt. Most of the time, Kurt is asking him to do something he wants to do just as much; "wanna fool around?" really isn't a hard question for Blaine to answer.

Other times Blaine thinks that the secret to their success is to follow that rule for improv games. No matter what Kurt suggests, "yes, and" will almost certainly lead to a good time. 

One day Blaine notices something, however, that makes him feel as if his heart is going to burst right out of his chest with love for his fiancé, and he understands, deep inside, just how strong their relationship is. He realizes that pretty much every time Blaine asks Kurt for something, Kurt says yes too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a tiny one to end on. I hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I enjoyed writing them. Please let me know in the comments or find me on Tumblr (flowerfan2). Happy 2014!


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